Sex Education Belongs In Public Schools, Callers Say

December 9, 1986

Ignorance is not bliss, especially when it comes to children and their lack of knowledge about sex. Most Sound Off callers said ignorance should be attacked by teaching sex education in public schools.

''It's like the forbidden fruit,'' said Judy May, 29, of Orlando. ''You hide it from them, it becomes more exciting. You shouldn't just say 'Don't do that,' and don't say why.''

Of 1,379 callers Sunday and Monday, 1,012 -- 73 percent -- said sex education belongs in the public schools. There were 367 callers who said teaching sex ed in school is playing with fire. When the same question was asked a year ago, 67 percent of 1,245 callers said yes.

Sound Off is not scientific, but it does measure the intensity of feelings on issues.

An informed teen-ager is a protected teen-ager, said Doug Metcalf of Winter Park.

''When kids are in a mode of curiosity, they get themselves into trouble,'' said Metcalf, 41. ''By educating them, by using quality instructors, they will learn what not to do and hopefully will not do it.''

But society has been so permissive for so long, said William Bradner, 79, of Winter Park, that teaching children more about sex now would create more problems than it would solve. ''We've had such a long time where thing anything goes, anything we try now is going to encourage them to go get on a back seat somewhere and get busy,'' he said.

Beulah Earl, 80, of Maitland said children should be taught at home about sex, where parents can instill proper moral values. ''Sex education would bring immoralities,'' she said. ''What children should really do is say no.'' Another opponent of sex ed in the schools, Wini Pomeroy, 52, of Orlando, said she and her husband taught their four daughters at home that sex is not a toy to be played with. Her lessons about sex always began, ''In marriage . . .'' Pomeroy said. A key to her children's upbringing was close supervision, a religious background and open communications, she said.

But many parents cannot face teaching their children about sex, said Verena Zimmerman, 62, of Maitland.

''I feel that parents will never tell their children what it's all about. They just don't,'' she said. ''They're scared themselves. They're usually shy about it themselves.''

Tina Dentel, 24, a Lake County schoolteacher, added that many parents do not know enough facts about sex to adequately teach their children at home. ''A lot of myths about sex are passed on from parents,'' she said.

Jeff Gillespie, 28, Forest City, said many kids learn about sex from other kids. ''When I was a kid everything I learned about sex I learned through friends at school,'' he said. ''What kids learn is very basic. They know how to do it and they know it's fun and that's about it. They don't find out about the consequences until it happens.''